colin-macphail Reviews

Open Range (2003)

I had to buy the DVD!!

[11 November 2004]

I am bewildered at comments on Annette Bening's performance, one suggesting she is wooden, another that she overacts, a third that she has a whiny voice. EH? Her chuckles and even just short bits of conversation are deep and intriguing. As for the others, I just had to watch bits of this film in slow motion (the gunfight scenes - amazing) and you just have to watch AB's face in slow motion in several places, a flicker or twitch here or there. When, at near the end, she's on her knees weeding in her garden and Costner, behind her, talks to her - watching the small changes of expression on her face and the way she closes her eyes as the meaning of it all gets to her ... phew! a lesson in real acting.

Costner is Costner, of course. He always have this decent image even when he's trying to play bad that it's astonishing how unlikely it seems even watching him spit baccy juice!!

And the final shootout. Well get the DVD and watch it slowly. Excellent.

Forever Lulu (2000)

Believable.

[5 October 2004]

Forget all the analyses and comparisons and fan enthusiasm. Forget the stupid episode of Penelope Miller (playing a qualified psychiatrist) throw herself at a fellow air traveler (thank goodness they didn't add in a bedroom scene - that would really have driven the film off course!). This film is emotional, yes, but also real. I know individuals who have gone through torment like this. I am also impressed by the way in which each character came quietly to grips with his/her situation at the end. That was very perceptive of the makers because that was what would have happened. The way that Swayze's character communicates with his wife in the car on leaving the airport is very believable and makes you appreciate the work they are both going to put in to remake their marriage. Probably the whole ending winds you up so tightly because of Lauren Kinkade's song "Say Goodbye". She sounds so much like Sheena Easton and that made me sit up as SE and Melanie Griffiths have a Don Johnson connection. That would have been too much!! I'm really glad to have come across this DVD.

The Station Agent (2003)

Exquisite subtlety

[22 June 2004]

I thought I was oblivious to stereotyping people but this film made me realize that deep down i had always thought of dwarfs as probably being mentally handicapped. I apologies to all who suffer dwarfism and am glad to have been humbled by the gentle and magnificent subtlety of "Station Agent". Simply put this tells how a character you think would have all the problems meets several who you would think had none by comparison. As the film progresses they all are drawn to him for strength as he is they see him as being the most 'sorted' of them all. Very sharp. Would that we were all so observant in life! It isn't a story it's a lesson. So it wouldn't benefit from having a clever ending or a hook for Station Agent 2. I give it a 9 simply because no film can be perfect. However this one gets very near it!